--by CCP board member Elliott Adams, who was arrested on October 25, 2012 at Hancock Air Base along with 17 other nonviolent activists who were drawing attention to reaper drone war crimes.The US government is attempting to silence people who call attention to the war crimes of drones by serving "orders of protection," a legal order intended to protect vulnerable victims of domestic violence.

The Upstate New York Coalition to Ground the Drones has repeatedly tried to deliver an indictment for war crimes to the Commander of Hancock Field Air National Guard Base.In response to trying to fulfill this obligation under International Humanitarian Law and the principles of Nuremberg, members of the group have been arrested six times and sentenced to fines and jail time. If the government believes drone attacks are legal, they would welcome the chance to address the accusations in a court of law.Instead the government denies these citizens their First Amendment Rights.

On 25 October 2012 Upstate Coalition members were arrested on frivolous charges while walking single file silently toward the base.This was a clear case of a preemptive arrest which deprived citizens of their Constitutional First Amendment Rights of free speech, freedom of assembly and the right to petition their government for redress of grievances. The charges were dropped by the prosecutor “in the interest of justice,” but only after the reading of the indictment to the base had been blocked. A law suit has been initiated against the police.

In one of the earlier trials, international law expert Ramsey Clark testified that use of drones are a war crime, that citizens are obligated under International Law to stop their government from committing war crimes, and that local courts are required to recognize these higher laws.The government is hiding from a citizen indictment claiming everyone from the President of the United States through the base commander down to the operators of the drones should be tried for war crimes.

On 25 October 2012 the court issued an order of protection for Col. Earl A. Evans prohibiting Upstate Coalition members from any type of communication, as well as assault, stalking, strangulation, criminal obstruction of breathing or circulation, sexual misconduct, forcible touching, and other irrelevant nefarious behaviors. The defendants are sworn to nonviolence. The base commander has M4 and M16 assault rifles, and the F16 fighter jets and MQ9 Reaper drones and his work involves killing people.Col. Earl A. Evans is an individual unknown to any of the defendants.This order is unjust because it is being used to deny Constitutional rights. But it is unjust as well because none of the defendants know what he looks like nor where he lives.This leaves the defendants vulnerable to entrapment resulting in a potential seven year jail sentence.

On one side of the fence to Hancock Air Base innocent children are being murdered by government drones, on the other side innocent citizens are being silenced for declaring the murder of children a war crime.

Join The Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones in Syracuse in the effort to bring International Humanitarian Law, firmly established by United States ratified treaties, to bear on the United States government. Visit www.upstatedroneaction.org Sign the petition at www.veteransforpeace.org.